Deadly Cry (DI Kim Stone #13) - Angela Marsons Page 0,85

but I do remember being asked some twenty years ago to analyse the handwriting of the staff of a medium-sized investment company. It had become clear to the owners that one member of staff was embezzling ever-increasing amounts of money and managing to hide their tracks electronically. One subject threw up flags immediately. The person concerned demonstrated predominant traits of greed, ego, ambition, ruthlessness. Their emotional responsiveness was the highest I’ve ever seen in the F range and signalled total emotional detachment.’

‘So this person could easily be deceitful without feeling any level of guilt?’ Kim asked.

Reg nodded. ‘And wouldn’t show a shred of emotion while discussing the issue at director-level meetings.’

‘That takes a lot of neck,’ Bryant observed.

‘What happened?’ Kim asked, wanting to hear the rest of the story.

‘With the information they had, they were able to start isolating the activities of individuals. Given the ego, it was only a matter of time until she struck again.’

‘She?’

‘Yes, a forty-six-year-old woman who had been with the company for fifteen years. She’d been at it for pretty much the whole time. The amounts had started small but had grown with her ego and confidence.’

‘And?’ Kim asked.

Reg laughed. ‘Yes, as a police officer I’m sure you want the rest. She was convicted of seventy-six charges and served eight years in prison. But, luckily, people like her don’t come along all the time.

‘The middle three sections of the gauge show the most common area into which people generally fall. AB dominant markers are cool, calm, collected, not sociopathic but very measured and reliable. You’d want an air-traffic controller to register here. BC offers more emotion: they’re quick to sympathise but still logical. Total middle ground and equally balanced. Great counsellors, as they can empathise but also remain objective. The CD slant shows someone who openly displays their feelings. They get overly emotional and don’t always make logical decisions. The final category is DE and E: these are people driven purely by emotion. They are warm, empathetic but they get too involved; they are prone to emotional outbursts and offer little logic in their emotional response. They could cry from a single look. They could also attack from a single look.’

He nodded towards Bryant. ‘So how am I doing so far, knowing what you know?’

Bryant took a look at the piece of paper he was holding and smiled. ‘Yeah, you got me. I’m sold.’

‘What the?…’ Kim said, grabbing the piece of paper.

She wasn’t surprised to see her own handwriting sample from the day before. She was even less surprised to see she was AB dominant.

‘A few more run-ins with Woody and you could always retrain as an air-traffic controller, guv,’ Bryant said, taking back the page and putting it in his pocket.

Kim ignored him and looked at the two letters from Noah side by side with the knowledge of what she’d just learned. She’d make sure Bryant destroyed that page later.

‘These are both showing a majority of BC’s and CD’s,’ she noted.

He nodded. ‘Absolutely, he shows emotion, he is logical, can tend to be overly emotional at times but has enough analytical ability to rein his emotions in when it matters.’

‘So given everything you’ve observed with your T bars, loops and this, can you draw me an overall picture?’ she asked, waving the two sheets around.

‘To perform a full character analysis, I’d want a week, but an outline sketch of your killer indicates that he, your determination not mine, is highly intelligent with reasonable ambitions. He is confident but not conceited. He is not dominant and does not procrastinate. He is not prone to quick temper but may be sensitive to criticism. He does not have a huge ego and is dignified. He is a bit of a loner; there is confusion and there is guilt. He is in touch with his emotions, considers them, but doesn’t allow them to shape his decisions.’

He paused. ‘Basically, if you were to meet him in the street you’d probably call him a nice guy.’

Yes, that was the picture Kim was starting to get, which made the one question on her mind all the more puzzling.

Why was he murdering innocent women?

Eighty-Eight

Penn placed every printed sheet on the floor in the boss’s office. He knew she wouldn’t mind her desk and chair being pushed to the wall; he needed the space to get a clearer picture.

He’d laid the pages out in date order with the oldest set of scratches first.

He stood at the foot of the seven pieces of paper,